Since the nineteen twenties, the Mexican State has imposed an economic, social and cultural project of the nation through the Partido Revolucionario Institucional (PRI). The state eliminated by decree racial differences, regional divergences, and gender distinctions. However, people contested and sought alternative political and cultural spaces to present their own national projects. Literature, as a symbolic zone, became one of the spaces where intellectuals disputed cultural codes of nationality.

This work analyzes the dispute over the Mexican nation during two crucial historical moments: first, the student movement in Mexico City of 1968; and second, the indigenous rebellion of 1994 in the state of Chiapas lead by the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (EZLN).

In the sixties, intellectuals prepared linguistic codes under the premise of "revolutionary nationalism", a concept drawn from the Mexican Revolution of 1910. In the nineties, the government abandoned this concept and instead, followed the premise of globalization. One example was the signing of international treaties like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In contrast and in opposition to the government global project, the indigenous Zapatista movement followed the idea of cultural particularities.

Thus this dissertation identifies how literature captures, through the narratives and discursive strategies used by intellectuals, the debate on the project of the nation. It analyzes two presidential reports, numerous essays and newspaper articles, and reveals the rhetorical discourse used by writers.